Country house with attached Orangery, now College of Further
Education. c1805 for Richard Congreve; remodelled 1904 by Sir
Charles Nicholson for Henry Neville Gladstone, son of William
Ewart Gladstone, Liberal Prime Minister. Orangery dated 1910
on rainwater head, by Arthur Beresford Pite.
MATERIALS: ashlar and hammer-dressed red sandstone with hipped
and sprocketed roof of green slates with tall ornate stacks of
stone and brick.
PLAN: quadrangular.
EXTERIOR: entrance front: 5 bays; 2-storey open-pedimented bay
in centre with two 3-storey bays to left, two 2-storey bays to
right. End wall of service wing is set back at left. Entrance
front bays are articulated by giant pilasters supporting eaves
frieze beneath wide modillioned eaves. Entrance bay has
semicircular arched porch rusticated in the Gibbs style
between narrow lights of leaded glass roundels. Doors are
teak, multi-glazed, beneath pulvinated transom panel filled
with fruit and foliage and surmounted by fanlight of small
leaded glass roundels behind wrought iron radial grille of
stylised leaves within margin of metal roundels. Windows are
sashes with glazing bars, long to public rooms to right,
shorter to accommodate third storey to left. Gabled pediment
encloses heraldic arms and inscription 'EIDE ET VIRTUTE' in
tympanum.
Right return: 2-storey front of 5 unequal bays with projecting
left end bay and irregular fenestration. Left end bay has
tripartite sash windows at both levels: windows in centre bays
are sashes, those at first floor level with added louvre
shutters. Wide bay at right end has a ground floor oculus,
blank first floor.
Garden front: 2-storey 5-bay front with single-storey orangery
to right, masking end of service wing. Garden front has
full-height 3-window canted bay at left end, similar 2-window
square bay at right end: windows are sashes, those on first

floor with louvred shutters. Three centre bays have tripartite
sashes at ground floor and paired sashes above.
Orangery has 9 tall sash windows with pivoting top lights
arranged in triplets, each centre light flanked by Ionic half
columns standing on moulded plinth band. One triplet is
repeated in left return with French doors in the centre. Right
return has high level Diocletian window. The whole is
surmounted by moulded cornice and plain parapet.
Service wing: set back from both the Entrance and Garden
fronts, it has two and three-storey sections and single-storey
additions.
INTERIOR: on ground floor, entrance hall: oak block floor,
6-panel porch doors, walnut veneered, 8-panel hardwood doors
to rooms with panelled linings. Line of three centre piers
which support semicircular arches with vine motif archivolts.
Dentil cornices and wide coved and panelled ceilings with
central bay leaf decoration.
Staircase hall: vaulted ceiling with garland decoration to the
semicircular panels over doors. Former Billiard Room, now
Library: oak block floor, raised dais, fronting plain
sandstone mantel between two Tuscan columns with high bases:
panelled ceiling, based on vines with garlands of foliage and
flowers.
Former library, now the Film Room: red, green and white
mantel, dentils, bead and reel and beads with bay leaf garland
motif used in the cornice.
studio: dentil cornice beneath panelled ceiling with bay leaf
garland decoration.
Former drawing room, now Congreve Room: marble mantel with
Jacobean fluted surround, pilasters with foliate motif and
acanthus caps, lozenge motif to fascia and bead and reel
decoration to shelf edge: garland wall frieze, dentil cornice,
reeded and ogee ceiling cornice: panelled ceiling with ellipse
in bay with diamond panels to light fittings based on stylised
roses: door openings flanked by plaster pilasters with flower,
leaf and ribbon motifs to panels, acanthus caps, garland
frieze and dentil bead and reel cornice.
Former music room, now Gladstone Room: oak strip floor;
8-panel door. Marble mantel featuring diamond motif fascia,
dentil edged shelf: flanking Ionic edge-rebated marble
pilasters support frieze of scrolls, shields and acanthus
leaves: central panel has vine decoration and a roundel with
deer and tree embroidery. Gallery has central pier flanked by
solid parapet with triple garland motif fronting
segment-headed multi-glazed borrowed light to staircase. Cross
vaulted ceiling with floral rib decoration.
Former dining room, now lounge: walls framed into tall
vertical panels above panelled dado: some dividing pilasters

are paired and have dentilled floral caps. Marble mantel with
bead and reel and egg and dart surround flanked by panel
pilasters with pear and pomegranate motifs: panels double
above shelf level, with flower foliage motifs, flanking a vine
ellipse. Pairs of 4-panel walnut doors flank the fireplace.
Frieze of small garlands and small egg and dart crown mould.
Dentil ceiling cornice frames elliptical bay leaf garland.
The Fountain Court: chequered floor of black and white marble
tiles. Windows on three sides are large radial-glazed
round-headed sashes. Window arches and those to matching
loggia arches are of roof tiles on edge with stone keyblocks.
Windows at first floor level generally casements with glazing
bars but a large Palladian window over the loggia serves the
staircase.
Staircase: panelled newels and openwork balustrade based on
looped and other strapwork designs incorporating initials MEG
and dated 1904. The upper quarter space landing has the
Venetian window and there are galleries east, south and west.
First floor ceiling is four intersecting coves with quatrefoil
centre motif based on grapes and stylised leaves.
At first floor, The Lichfield Room: 6-panel door; plain
ceiling cornice, large elliptical panel to ceiling.
The meeting room: retains evidence of early C19 house: fire
grate in marble mantel with eared architrave and festoons to
the shelf fascia based on vines: ceiling is divided into four
by plastered beams with simple cornices.
EXTRA INFORMATION: this large mansion is set in extensive
grounds with a formal garden by TH Mawson.
(Burton and South Wirral Local History Society: Burton in
Wirral - A History: Burton: 1984-: 150-156, 191-205; Country
Life: Country Homes and Gardens Old & New: Burton Manor,
Cheshire: London: 1912-: 490 -).

Listing NGR: SJ3149774116

Selected Sources

Books and journalsBurton, , South Wirral Local History Society, , Burton in Wirral A History, (1984), 150-156Burton, , South Wirral Local History Society, , Burton in Wirral A History, (1984), 191-205'Country Life' in Country Homes and Gardens Old and New: Burton Manor Cheshire, (1912), 490

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